<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Long, Cold Search For Family by TypingThroughClouds</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559775">The Long, Cold Search For Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TypingThroughClouds/pseuds/TypingThroughClouds'>TypingThroughClouds</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Fluff and Angst, Foster Kid Keith (Voltron), M/M, Meet the Family, Post Season 8, lots of fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 01:06:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TypingThroughClouds/pseuds/TypingThroughClouds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith, finally, might have a chance to be part of a family that loves him, but his own anxieties from his past threaten to get in the way.</p><p>(Keith meets the McClains)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>158</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Long, Cold Search For Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Earth will always feel like home to Keith despite having little to tie him there. Every time he returns to the planet he grew up on, he wonders if that will have changed, wonders if he’ll step outside and realise he’s no longer returning, but visiting.</p><p>But then he opens the doors on his Blade of Marmora ship and the fresh, earthy scent of the exact right ratio of Oxygen and Nitrogen hit his nose and it’s like all his muscles deflate from the stress and excitement of his intergalactic adventures.</p><p>For all Earth and the people on it threw at him throughout his childhood, all the neglect and pain and loss he endured here, eight years later and it’s the place where he’s most comfortable. Go figure.</p><p>He takes a walk through the main Garrison building once his ship is docked and returns the smiles from everyone he passes. He’s still not used to that, the looks of respect and awe that are somehow directed at him now. It must be his Blade uniform, he thinks. They make him feel taller, more confident. Invincible.</p><p>If the tiny, fiery, weed of a fifteen-year-old he was ten years ago could see him now…</p><p>Shiro’s office is on the ground floor with easy access to the Atlas in case there’s an emergency. Keith hangs by his doorway to study him for a moment before entering and he’s pleased to see he looks well. His desk is a shamble of papers and documents and he’s staring intently at one of them, the scar on his nose crinkled with concentration.</p><p>It’s not the type of frown that used to adorn his face four years ago, full of distress and pent up trauma. This one is only surface level, nothing more to it than the stress of a heavy workload and the confusion over a single document. He looks happy, he thinks, and that thought alone is worth everything.</p><p>“Hey,” Keith makes himself known with a smirk and Shiro looks up.</p><p>“Keith!” Shiro’s face instantly melts into a genuine grin and he gets up to pull Keith into a hug as he enters the room proper.</p><p>“I didn’t know you were coming back!” He lets him go and motions to the flimsy plastic chair opposite his as he sits back down.</p><p>“It’s been a while, what’ve you been up to?”</p><p>“I just came from Arus. The Arusians agreed to take in some refugees and we were making sure they were settled.”</p><p>“Arus, huh?” Shiro sits back in his chair and chuckles. “Been a while.”</p><p>“You’re telling me. They still refer to Allura as some sort of Goddess and when I told then she’s no longer with us they held a movement-long ceremony in her honour.”</p><p>Shiro laughed, “Oh, man, she would’ve hated that.”</p><p>“No kidding.”</p><p>“So, how come you’re back, is everything okay?”</p><p>“Everything’s fine. I asked for some time off.”</p><p>Shiro looked at him carefully.</p><p>“Ah, so you’re finally visiting the farm.”</p><p>“Yeah, I think if I put it off one any longer, Lance would throw a fit.”</p><p>“Well, it has been, what… three years since you’ve been together and as Lance likes to remind everyone constantly, you’ve never met his family.”</p><p>“I know, I meant to sooner it’s just…”</p><p>“Just…”</p><p>“Well, I’ve been busy.”</p><p>Shiro raises his eyebrows.</p><p>“Oh? Is that all?”</p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p>Shiro looks at him intently and Keith crosses his arms with a scowl.</p><p>“Keith, I think you forget sometimes that I knew back when you were a closed-off orphan with major trust issues.”</p><p>Keith gapes at him for a second.</p><p>“Jeez, Shiro, hit me where it hurts why don’t you!”</p><p>Shiro bursts out laughing. It’s a good sound; happy and free, not a sound he would’ve made not so long ago.</p><p>“What?!”</p><p>“It’s just,” Shiro says through barely contained hilarity, “I think that’s exactly what Lance would’ve said.”</p><p>Keith is silent for a moment before gasping.</p><p>“Oh my God, you’re right. That’s terrible.”</p><p>“It’s really not.”</p><p>Keith hits him with an exasperated, if not faintly amused, expression.</p><p>“I love him, it doesn’t mean I want to sound like him.”</p><p>“You’ve both learned a lot from each other.”</p><p>“I’ve learned a lot from all of you.”</p><p>“Why don’t you want to meet his family?”</p><p>“What?! I do want to meet his family, that’s why I’m here!”</p><p>Shiro raises an eyebrow and suddenly Keith is back ten years ago, small and insignificant in the face of Shiro’s disappointment.</p><p>“Why are you here then and not at the farm?”</p><p>“Excuse me for wanting to say hi to my best friend who I haven’t seen in weeks,” Keith replies with a scowl.</p><p>“And it’s honestly great to see you, but you’re putting off the inevitable.” Shiro fixes him with a piercing gaze, “I think you’re scared of meeting Lance’s family.”</p><p>Keith looks at him with honest confusion, his mind working a mile a minute to understand what made him come to that conclusion.</p><p>“Why would I be scared? I love Lance, I can’t wait to meet his family.”</p><p>“For the same reason you’ve always refused to call me family, or any of the others.”</p><p>There have been many times since Keith knew Shiro where he has referred to Keith as his brother, and later when the other paladins have referred to each other as family. Keith never really got it. The connotations that came with those words were missing for him. He’s never even referred to Krolia as ‘Mum’ or anything because it just hasn’t felt <em>right</em>. The relationship they have is good, but the time when he needed a ‘mother’ is long gone now.</p><p> “I don’t understand,” he says, though he’s starting to.</p><p>“We’ve all heard Lance talking about his family,” continues Shiro, “and I imagine it must be pretty much polar opposite to your experience.”</p><p>“That doesn’t mean anything,” Keith replies heatedly. Anger is starting to sizzle beneath his skin. It’s the desperate kind and he’s not sure why it’s appearing now.</p><p>Shiro sighs.</p><p>“I’m just saying, it’s probably daunting.”</p><p>Keith tenses up and sits straighter in his chair. His emotions are a ghost of the angry outbursts he’s all but grown out of, vast and uncontrollable.</p><p>“It’s fine,” he says through gritted teeth, “I don’t need you to therapize me.”</p><p>“I know, Keith, I’m not. I just wanted to check you were okay, I know this is something you’ve been worried about.”</p><p>“I’m not worried,” he says, standing suddenly, “I’m not scared, I’m not anything. I- I’ve got to go,” he says, glancing at his wrist where he and Shiro both know full well there is no watch.</p><p>Shiro sighs again.</p><p>“Okay, but feel free to contact me whenever. Sorry,” he adds quietly when Keith is halfway out the door.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Keith takes a bullet train from the Garrison towards the McClain family farm in rural Ohio. He punches in the address of his destination on the screen in front of his seat and sits down in his first-class compartment, ignoring the awed stares he gets for still being in his Blade outfit.</p><p>It seems silly to him that he has to take a train for an hour instead of landing his ship directly there, but the Garrison have strict rules about galactic traffic on Earth. Unfortunately, it means he has an hour in which his thoughts are free to roam and the changing climate whizzing past the window provides little distraction from them.</p><p>He gets changed out of his Blade uniform and replaces it with the smartest pair of black skinny jeans he owns and a deep red t-shirt.</p><p>There is a panicky, fluttering feeling in his stomach that grows stronger the closer to the farm he gets. It’s different from the all-encompassing adrenaline that comes before battle, partly in that he doesn’t have an outlet. All he can do is sit there, nausea threatening to overtake him as he goes over Shiro’s words in his head.</p><p>The thing is, as much as he hates it, Shiro is often right about these things, and the truth is, meeting Lance’s family <em>is</em> daunting. He maybe didn’t realise it at the time, but it’s very possible he was in fact putting off meeting them the past few years. He hasn’t meant to, it’s just always seemed easier for Lance to come to him or for them both to meet on New Altea, but he supposes he could’ve tried harder. Maybe.</p><p>And there’s always been a lot of pressure for him. Lance’s family is the thing most important to him in the universe. Keith feels like he already knows them all personally for how much Lance talks about them all.</p><p><em>“They can be your family too,”</em> Lance said once.</p><p>
  <em>Keith wasn’t sure Lance knew what that meant to him, how the prospect filled him with hope and love and despair. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>How many times had he been offered a family just like that? How many times had he messed it up?</em>
</p><p>This is different, he thinks, dismissing the memory. Lance already loves him, he knows that, and he still would even if his family hated Keith. Wouldn’t he?</p><p>He would, right?</p><p>His phone buzzes and Lance’s name lights up the screen.</p><p>
  <em>r u almost here babe xxxxx</em>
</p><p>The message grounds him and reminds him that this is <em>Lance</em>. This is the man he loves and will marry one day. The man whose heart is so big he offered to share his family because Keith didn’t have one of his own.</p><p><em>Half an hour x,</em> he types back, but as soon as he sends it, anxiety starts to creep back into his peripherals.</p><p>The bullet train moves on, stopping at people’s desired destinations, getting closer and closer to his own. He suddenly feels a strong desire to stop it, pull the emergency brakes, halt it in its uncontrollable speed because that’s how it feels; all so incredibly out of control. Just like it was back then when all his life choices were made by strangers and he was discarded over and over until he was nothing.</p><p>But Lance’s family probably aren’t like that. They’ll like him because Lance does, they won’t send him away. And even if, God forbid, they did, it’s not like he’d be homeless. He would go back to the Blade and their cold but efficient formality and Krolia who cares so much about him, even if she sometimes has difficulty showing it.</p><p>But then Lance would hate him, and he doesn’t think he could live without Lance. <em>Oh fuck, what’s he going to do without Lance?</em></p><p>There’s a very real chance he might throw up now and seeing as that is absolutely not an option, he takes out his phone again instead. He scrolls down to Shiro’s name.</p><p><em>You’re right</em>, he sends and then adds a <em>sorry </em>for good measure. His hands are shaking ever so slightly. Shit, for a former paladin of the black lion he sure is a coward.</p><p>He gets a reply immediately because Shiro is like that.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>You ok?</em>
  </strong>
</p><p><em>Yes,</em> he sends back, and then,</p><p>
  <em>No</em>
</p><p><strong><em>I’ve met them a couple of times, </em></strong>Shiro types<strong>, <em>they’re nice.</em></strong></p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>They liked me I think they’ll like you too :)</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Of course they liked Shiro, everyone likes Shiro.</p><p>
  <em>Ok.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Don’t think too much about it and call me if it gets too much</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Where in the universe would he be without Shiro? He feels a twinge of guilt on top of all the nerves at storming out of his office earlier. He’ll make it up to him later.</p><p>The automated voice calls the road on which the McClain farm is situated, and he feels suddenly very hot and very cold at the same time. As the train slows, he grabs his small bag in a vice-like grip and makes his way towards the doors.</p><p>
  <em>Oh fuck, this is really happening.</em>
</p><p>The moment he steps out onto the small platform between the road and the train track, he’s met with an armful of lanky limbs and vanilla-scented shampoo.</p><p>“Oh my quiznack I missed you <em>so</em> much!” Then Lance is kissing him and for a moment he’s back drifting through space amongst the stars with no worries at all.</p><p>“I missed you too,” he replies once they break apart, and damn if that isn’t true.</p><p>“You’re late, Mullet. And your hair’s grown.” Lance grins at him fondly with those blue, blue eyes and he wonders if after this evening he’ll still be his. He’s wearing an old shirt and blue skinny jeans with a ridiculously large pair of wellies covered in mud.</p><p>“Sorry, I stopped by Shiro’s office on the way. And so has yours,” he adds, pulling on a strand.</p><p>“Oh? And how is the old man getting on these days?” Lance grabs his bag for him and starts walking down the road. It’s potholed and overgrown with shrubbery. The sky is blue, and the view goes on for miles, green in every direction. Keith follows him, matching his step and knocking his shoulder against his.</p><p>“He seems good. It was nice to see him.” Another pang of guilt.</p><p>“How’s Curtis?”</p><p>“I didn’t ask.”</p><p>“Oh…” Lance looks at him, confused, “Well we can call them later maybe?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”</p><p>“So, light of my life, fire of my loins (Keith splutters and fixes him with a glare), what has got you all stressed and depressed this fine afternoon?”</p><p>“What?! I’m not stressed… or depressed!”</p><p>“Yep. You’re even more grouchy than usual. Did you have a bad mission?” Lance turns to face him, concern suddenly present in his otherwise carefree expression and Keith hates himself for putting it there. “Did anything happen? You didn’t tell me over the phone.”</p><p>“Calm down, the mission was good like I said. I’m just… tired. I’ve travelled pretty far today.”</p><p>“You sure?”</p><p>Keith nods,</p><p>“Well, once you have some of Mamá’s Fricasé de Pollo, you’ll perk right up.”</p><p>“What’s Fri- frica… what’s that?” He really needs to find some time to learn Spanish.</p><p>Lance laughs loudly and Keith thinks for the hundredth time that that sound is better than any music ever recorded.</p><p>“It’s chicken stew, but that was adorable.” Keith scowls.</p><p>“So…” Keith starts, changing the subject, “is your whole family going to be there?”</p><p>“Tonight? No, not everyone. Just Mamá, Pop-Pop, Luis, Lisa, Sylvio, Nadia, Marco and Rachel. Veronica’s tied up at the Garrison, but you know her anyway.”</p><p>Keith wonders if the air is getting thinner or if it’s just him.</p><p>“Oh,” he says.</p><p>“That’s okay, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s just a lot of people.”</p><p>“Ah, you’re an expert!” Lance waves him off nonchalantly, “you make speeches in front of hundreds of people all the time, you’ll be fine.”</p><p>Keith wants to tell him that giving a prepared speech in front of aliens that don’t know him and already have a certain level of respect for him is absolutely incomparable to making small talk to his boyfriend’s family, but he can’t seem to find the words. Instead he just gapes like a fish.</p><p>“They’re all so excited to meet you. Mamá hasn’t stopped worrying about the state of the house and Nadia won’t shut up about ‘Uncle Keith’ coming to stay, and- Keith? What’s wrong?”</p><p>He hadn’t realised he’d stopped until Lance is looking back at him concernedly.</p><p>“I don’t think I should meet them,” he says quietly.</p><p>“What? Why? Don’t you want to?” Keith’s heart breaks a little at the hurt on his boyfriend’s face.</p><p>“No! No, I do. It’s just…” Lance moves over to him and puts his hands on his shoulders, his face close and searching. He’s quite a bit taller than him now, all long, graceful limbs.</p><p>“You can tell me, Keith. You can tell me anything, remember.” Keith looks away, at the floor, to Lance’s ridiculous, mud-covered rubber boots.</p><p>“I just… want them to like me.”</p><p>“Keith, look at me.” He does and Lance’s dancing eyes are serious now. “They’ll <em>love</em> you. They already do, I promise.”</p><p>“But what if they don’t?”</p><p>“Impossible. But if they did, I’d still love you anyway. You know that, right? I always will.”</p><p>And Keith doesn’t think Lance understands. How could he, having grown up in the life he did. But he has this uncanny knack of always knowing the right thing to say, no matter the situation. Keith once again feels the doubt and stress melt away a bit as Lance’s face breaks back into that beautiful grin and he pulls away, keeping hold of Keith’s hand.</p><p>He stops talking about his family for the rest of the walk, for which Keith is grateful, and instead points out landmarks and places that hold stories of a life Keith has been so far away from these past three years.</p><p>He wonders what it would be like to drop everything and live the simple life as Lance did. Would he gradually learn to enjoy it? For his only worries to be the animals or the next harvest rather than the fate of the universe? He doubts it.</p><p>But all the same, every so often when he’s out there, fighting for a planet’s freedom or saving lives, he imagines retiring to a place like this with Lance. Imagines growing old together, and honestly, that vision never brings him anything but happiness.</p><p>“-and just round the corner here is the house!”</p><p>He catches a glimpse of it through the trees as they pass a pig pen. It’s huge, he guesses it has to be given the number of people who live there, and somehow it fits very perfectly with its surroundings. It’s painted an off-white with large, old wooden beams veining the surface. It’s exactly what he would have in his mind when thinking of a traditional farmhouse.</p><p>The driveway leading up to it is just hardened mud which is probably a nightmare when it rains and there is an old-style land rover and a motor-bike parked outside.</p><p>“That’s Rachel’s,” Lance says, motioning at the bike.</p><p>Keith’s heartrate is lightning as he follows Lance through the open door and into the building. The scent of manure is replaced by the delicious aroma of spiced, home cooking and it’s all so warm and cosy. Keith looks at the framed photos that lie on the table by the door as Lance takes off his boots.</p><p>He recognises some of the people in them from photos Lance has shown him before. Marco with his mother, Lisa and Luis, Rachel fishing with her father, the whole family outside on what Keith knows must be Veradera Beach where they grew up in Cuba.</p><p>All that time spent laughing together, sharing inside jokes, getting to know every single detail about each other. How in the universe could he ever even hope to be a part of that?</p><p> “Mamá! I’m back!”</p><p>“Lance? I’m in the kitchen, mijo!” comes the accented reply. Lance shoots a grin Keith’s way, which he knows is meant to be reassuring, before he takes his hand and drags him through the door to the left.</p><p>Mrs McClain turns away from her steaming cooking pot to greet them as they enter. She is shorter than Keith, much shorter than Lance, and has the kindest eyes of anyone he’s ever seen.</p><p>“You must be Keith!” she says, immediately fixing her warm gaze upon him and, to his surprise, wrapping him in a hug. He relaxes into it almost immediately, encompassed by comfort and the ease in which this woman could show such familiarity to someone she has never met.</p><p>“It’s so good to finally meet you,” she smiles as she lets him go, “Lance has told us all about you, of course, but my other sons were starting to tease him about making you up.”</p><p>Keith return smile is genuine. “It’s nice to finally meet you too.”</p><p>“Where’s everyone else?” Lance asks.</p><p>“They’re all outside somewhere, but they’ll all be back in an hour for dinner.” Keith is struck by the way she talks to both of them rather than directly at Lance. It makes him feel welcome and included and he wonders where she learned to be so kind; this one small act does so much to make him feel at ease.</p><p>“Mijo, why don’t you take Keith to see the animals?”</p><p>“You don’t need help with dinner?”</p><p>“That’s very kind of you,” she says, wrapping Lance in a side-armed hug, “but I’m sure the last thing Keith wants to be is stuck in the kitchen. Go, you can feed the chickens.”</p><p>Keith can hardly gather the words to tell her that he really wouldn’t mind helping in the kitchen before Lance grabs his hand and whisks him away through the stable door at the back of the room.</p><p>“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”</p><p>“She seems really nice,” Keith assures him.</p><p>They’re walking down a footpath through a field and Keith turns away from Lance to admire the view which goes right the way to the horizon.</p><p>“Jeez, Mullet, you’re so tense!” He wraps his arm around Keith’s waist and rests his head on his shoulder. Instantly, Keith’s muscles relax.</p><p>“That’s better. Hey look, it’s Marco. Hey Marco!” He removes his arm as he shouts to a figure with a garden rake next to the pigpen. The figure waves and Lance changes their course to meet him.</p><p>“Hey, little bro, how’s it going?” Marco looks startlingly like Lance, though noticeably less well-groomed. His hair is a mess of thick brown hair and he has a beard that looks less purposeful and more like a ‘just couldn’t be bothered to shave’ kind of look. His clothes are loose and baggy and splattered with mud and he’s wearing a straw hat that may or may not be ironic.</p><p>“Keith, this is Marco. Marco, Keith.”</p><p>“Hey, nice to finally meet you, man, we’ve heard a lot about you,” he says as he shakes Keith’s hand.</p><p>“You too,” he replies. Lance has told him he gets on well with Marco and Keith can see why. He’s noticeably more chill than Lance in every way and he imagines they compliment each other nicely personality-wise.</p><p>“Whatcha doing?” Lance asks.</p><p>“Just clearing the path.”</p><p>“Ugh, boring.”</p><p>Marco laughs, a notion that seems well versed between the brothers.</p><p>“Someone’s gotta do it! So, Keith, you work with the Blade of Marmora, right? Always thought they seemed like a cool bunch. What’re they like in person? They as intimidating as they seem?”</p><p>“Er- no, not really. I guess they were at first, but they’re actually pretty nice people once you get to know them.” <em>God, Marco is so cool, he should’ve said something cool back, and that’s all he has to say?</em></p><p>“Whoa, that’s awesome. You’re like a space ninja.”</p><p>“Yeah… I guess,” he shrugs.</p><p>“Right?” Lance is positively shining, “I must be the luckiest guy in the universe to have a space ninja boyfriend,” he beams, kissing Keith on the cheek. He hopes the blush he feels creeping up his neck isn’t too obvious.</p><p>“Anyway, we gotta go feed the chickens,” he adds, once again pulling Keith along by his hand.</p><p>“It was nice to meet you,” he manages to splutter out before he’s out of earshot, and Marco tips his hat at him.</p><p>The chickens are not far from the pigs and Keith enjoys throwing seeds at them whilst Lance collects the eggs from their hut. They cluck and swarm and he laughs at Lance’s squeal when he throws feed at him, so the birds flock him.</p><p>They stay there watching them peck at the ground as they talk, catching up on all the things they hadn’t managed to on the phone. Laughing with Lance and kissing him whenever he likes is <em>nice</em>, so nice compared to the majority of their time together throughout their relationship, staring at each other through a screen.</p><p>Keith is gone too often, and it sometimes physically hurts to be lightyears away from the man he loves, but maybe, just maybe, Lance’s family would allow him to stay here at the farm more frequently after this. He hadn’t messed it up yet, right?</p><p>“Dinner’s probably ready by now,” notes Lance as the sun starts to set over the wide horizon, and they sit there, basking in the beauty of it, in their togetherness, for a few moments longer. Then Lance grabs his hand once more and they run together over the fields and towards the house.</p><p>Almost forgotten anxiety crawls back into his chest as they step through the door. From inside comes chatter, half in Spanish, half in English, loud in the quiet evening light.</p><p>“Ah, there you are Lance, Keith, you’re just in time,” says Mrs McClain as they emerge into the warm, bustling kitchen. Keith freezes in his step at the sheer number of people packed into the one room. He can’t pick out a single line of conversation there are so many going on, and they all weave past each other like the whole thing is rehearsed.</p><p>One of them picks up a plate of food and the other serves it onto the many plates that line the long table. Someone passes Mrs McClain a serving spoon as soon as she reaches for it as if they had read her mind. They all step over the two playing children without a glance, knowing where they are without needing to look.</p><p>“Come on,” Lance says kindly, gently pulling him forward by his hand and into the fray. Somehow, they find their seats at the table and sit next to each other without much hassle and Keith can’t help but lean slightly towards Lance’s chair as he looks around with wide eyes.</p><p>Keith wonders vaguely if the McClain family possess some sort of hive mind as they all react to some unseen signal to sit down in front of their meals and the raucous dies down significantly. He ends up sitting next to who he assumes must be Nadia, Lance’s niece, who is staring up at him with wide eyes.</p><p>“So, you must be Keith!” booms the man sitting opposite him who looks a lot like Lance despite the moustache to rival Coran’s and his weathered skin. The others quieten at the sound of his voice and Keith can’t help but be slightly intimidated by someone who is able to have such an effect on this unruly crowd.</p><p>“Call me Jorge,” he says.</p><p>“Nice to meet you, Sir.”</p><p>Mr McClain lets out a huge, booming laugh and Keith instantly feels a jolt of panic run through him. Did he say something wrong? The evening has barely started!</p><p>“No need for the Sir,” he says with a smile, “though I’m impressed that a respectful young man such as yourself would have the patience to be with my youngest son!”</p><p>“Hey!” Lance protests, “what’s that supposed to mean?”</p><p>The others laugh as Lance pouts and Keith is surprised to find himself laughing along with them. This- this is familiar territory. He’s spent years (semi) good-naturedly tormenting Lance, and it seems he wasn’t the only one.</p><p>“I’m Lisa, Keith,” says a woman on the other end of the table with a soft voice and gentle smile. He returns it with a nod. The others follow, introducing themselves one by one:</p><p>“Rachel.”</p><p>“Luis.”</p><p>“Silvio.”</p><p>“I’m Nadia!”</p><p>And Keith returns them all with nods and small smiles, internally praying that they don’t find him too quiet or too moody or rude or any of the other things he’s been told he is by seemingly nice families like these.</p><p>“We’re all so excited to finally meet you, Keith,” says Mrs McClain in the same tone she had an hour ago when he first met her.</p><p>“Thank you. It’s really good to finally meet you all too,” he replies, and Lance’s knee knocks his under the table. He is wary, having all of their attention on him at once. He’s come so far in these past ten years, but he can’t help but feel like a foster-kid again, having an interview-like dinner with a new family, scrutinized to see if he was good enough to stay with them.</p><p>He picks up the fork to start eating the delicious looking stew in front of him and to his relief, the chatter starts up again. As expected, Mrs McClain’s cooking is on par with Hunks. If food could be a warm blanket, this would be it, he thinks.</p><p>“So, Keith.” He looks up to see Luis watching him. He’s stockier than his two brothers and looks more like his mother, but his smile mirrors Lance’s in its mischievousness. “Lance tells us you’re half Galra. What’s that like?”</p><p>“Luis!” Lisa scolds next to him, “Keith you don’t need to answer that.”</p><p>“Um- it’s fine, I don’t actually know-“</p><p>“You don’t look Galra at all,” interrupts Rachel blatantly from the other end of the table. “I was expecting ears, or something.”</p><p>“Oh, well human genes are actually more dominant, so-“</p><p>“How did your parents meet,” asks Luis again. Keith’s gaze travels back and forth like he’s watching a game of tennis, his stomach fluttering nervously the whole time. “And how did that work, you know, with them being two different species and all?”</p><p>“Guys! Lay off, would you,” exclaims Lance with a fierce expression for which Keith is eternally grateful. Luis and Rachel look sheepish.</p><p>“Sorry, Keith,” says Luis, “we’re just kidding around.”</p><p>“That’s okay,” Keith mumbles, and he feels his face turn red as he concentrates on his food. Lance nudges him again softly under the table.</p><p>“You know,” offers Marco, “you’re too polite, Keith. You need to know when to tell them to shut up.”</p><p>Too polite. He’s never had that one before.</p><p>He discovers he’s suddenly less hungry than he was before as the chatter riles up once again, his stomach doing backflips.</p><p>“I’m really sorry about them,” Lance mutters to him worriedly, “I swear they’re only having a bit of fun.”</p><p>“I know, it’s fine.” And the thing is, he does know. He knows he’s being too sensitive, he knows he’s being pathetic, but it’s like the child he once was is inside of him, feeding him irrational thoughts and fortifying a wall of anxiety he thought he managed to break down years ago.</p><p>He feels a tug on his shirt from his right and he looks down to see Nadia staring up at him with wide eyes.</p><p>“Keith?” she asks quietly.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>She bites her lip nervously and Keith wonders how in the universe a family like this could produce a shy child.</p><p>“Um… when you were the black paladin, did you get to boss Uncle Lance around?”</p><p>Keith lets out a genuine smile at that. He’s been around a fair few children in his life, whether in foster families or, more recently, refugee camps, and the blunt curiosity with which they speak never fails to lighten his mood.</p><p>“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”</p><p>“Was it fun?”</p><p>“Yeah. Bossing your Uncle Lance around was probably one of the best things about being the black paladin.”</p><p>“Keeeith!” Lance moans, listening in.</p><p>“What else?” asks Nadia, ignoring him.</p><p>“Well, flying Black and saving the universe was pretty cool too.”</p><p>“Woah,” her eyes sparkle just like Lance’s do when he’s excited, though her expression is much more refrained, “I want to be the black paladin one day.”</p><p>“Still?!” Lance complains, “And here I thought I did a good job convincing you to fly Blue or Red.”</p><p>“Nope. Black is the best.”</p><p>Keith smiles and raises his hand and Nadia high-fives him with a giggle.</p><p>“Silv, you want to fly Blue, right?” Lance tries.</p><p>“Nope,” Silvio smiles confidently from his seat next to Lisa, “I’m gonna be a chef like Hunk.”</p><p>“Disappointments, the both of you,” he sighs dramatically and they both giggle.</p><p>“Silvio is going to be a wonderful chef one day,” says Mrs McClain, “you know, he was the one who chopped all the vegetables you’re eating right now.”</p><p>Silvio smiles proudly as Louis ruffles his hair, and as the conversation continues, Keith finds himself sitting back and relaxing. Lance catches fragments of different conversations and directs them at him, involving him and talking so he doesn’t have to. He doesn’t say much, but somehow he feels included, and what’s more <em>wanted</em>, just being in the midst of it all.</p><p>There is a feeling rising inside him, one he caught glimpses of during his childhood in the camera reel of homes he was fleetingly a part of. It’s a warmth that spreads through his chest and then his limbs and lets him smile at every little thing.</p><p>He thinks, maybe, he knows what Lance is talking about now when he speaks of his family. And, God, if he had felt like this when he was younger, he would’ve talked about it all the time too.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Later, when everyone has gone to bed, Lance asks him to get him a glass of water from the kitchen. It’s nice to be alone, even just for a minute as he walks down the stairs, alone with his thoughts, sorting and sifting through them.</p><p>He is worried, of course he is, there’s still that nagging in the back of his mind telling him that nothing this perfect ever stays that way, and he’s tempted to shut it up. But that voice has never been wrong before.</p><p>He almost doesn’t see Mrs McClain as enters the kitchen. She is sitting at the empty table, a steaming cup of tea in her hands, staring distantly out the window.</p><p>“Mrs McClain?”</p><p>She startles slightly before smiling at him.</p><p>“It’s Rosa, dear, please. Are you alright?”</p><p>“I’m just getting a glass of water,”” he motions awkwardly at the sink.</p><p>“Let me get it for you,” she says, getting up immediately. It’s such an unnecessary gesture, but he only feels his love for this woman grow.</p><p>“Thanks,” he says as she fills a glass up from the tap and hands it to him. She looks at him for a second and Keith can’t help but feel scrutinised under her gaze.</p><p>“You know, Keith, I couldn’t think of a better partner for Lance if I tried. He’s lucky to have you.”</p><p>“I’m lucky to have him too.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure. You’ve changed him for the better, and I imagine he’s done the same for you.”</p><p>Keith nods.</p><p>“Will you do something for me?” she asks, and he can’t help but think he’d do whatever she asked of him in that moment.</p><p>“Come by here more often,” she says, “you’re always welcome and Lance could do with seeing you more. So could we all. I hope one day, you’ll be happy to call us family.”</p><p>He doesn’t know if she’s aware of how much those words mean to him. It’s like the feeling of spring after a long, cold winter and he’s so very relieved. Maybe he has made it after all. Maybe the race is over, the fight for every ounce of love no longer applicable. Maybe, finally, he’s found a family that will love him back.</p><p>“Thank you,” he says and it’s all but a whisper, and Rosa gives him a look that tells him she does know.</p><p>The walk back upstairs is slow and as he rolls into bed next to the man he loves, he realises he is happy. Really, truly happy. He hugs Lance under the covers, burying his face into his shoulder.</p><p>“You okay?” Lance asks.</p><p>“Yeah,” he replies.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed this, do leave a comment if you fancy!</p><p>Tumblr:<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/typingthroughclouds">typingthroughclouds</a><br/>Send me a prompt! I'd love to hear from you!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>